Customers of the Twin City Water & Sewer District will see a $4.25 per month increase in their water bills, beginning with the January billing.

The new minimum bill will be $60.10 per month.

The majority of the money will help pay for the district's new $7 million water treatment plant, which went into service July 24.

Forty percent of the cost of the new facility was paid from a grant from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. The other 60 percent came from a 30-year loan from the Ohio EPA at zero percent interest.

"It's working out very good," John O'Hara, chairman of the water and sewer district, said about the new treatment plant.

Before it went into service, residents of Uhrichsville and Dennison got their drinking water from Big Stillwater Creek. Now, they receive it from an aquifer that also provides water to Dover, New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas and Gnadenhutten.

O'Hara said the Ohio EPA is pleased with the quality of water, as are many of the district's customers.

"We've got a lot of good comments about the taste and the smell," he said. "The water is harder than the previous creek water that we treated, but it's a lot better quality."

The rate increase comes 12 months after the district increased water and sewer rates by $4.75 per month.

The money from that increase was used to pay for construction of the Sixth Street Lift Station on the west side of Uhrichsville, O'Hara said. The station will cost more than $1 million and is not yet finished. "It won't be completed until later this year," he said.

The station will help transport sewage via pipeline from the west side to the district's sewage treatment plant.

In addition, the 2013 increase helped fund installation of an ultraviolet system to treat sewage at the treatment plant before it is discharged into Big Stillwater Creek, O'Hara said.